


More Than Just Words

by AngelofGrace96



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: During Canon, Everyone being very nice and respecting Taako, Fluff, Gen, Nonverbal Character, Nonverbal!Taako, Rest of the IPRE and angus make appearances too, Sign Language, no ableism here!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 19:50:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20120734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AngelofGrace96/pseuds/AngelofGrace96
Summary: Taako looked up at Lup.“Stop worrying.” she said, grabbing their bright red and brand new robes. “It’ll be fine.”Taako opened his mouth. Dammit. He closed it and raised his hands. ‘Easy for you to say.’A character study of a Taako who semi regularly goes nonverbal.





	More Than Just Words

**Author's Note:**

> Edited for Grammar

The first time Taako went nonverbal after Glamour Springs, he tried to sign at the tavern owner he was trying to get a meal off. It didn't work. The owner blinked, he had no idea what Taako was trying to say. Taako mentally cursed and rolled his eyes. He should have known that the other dude wouldn’t have understood him. 

_ ‘Sorry,’ _ Taako signed absentmindedly as he dug through his bag for a notebook and pen, before mentally facepalming. 

_ Not like he’s gonna understand it that time either, dingus, _ he thought to himself before finally grabbing the writing utensils and scrawling out a message. 

“There something wrong with your voice?” the owner asked, in a tone just shy of insulting. Taako simply nodded, not willing to explain,  _ Oh yeah; sometimes my brain does a nope and I can’t talk. _

Thankfully the owner left him alone after that, and Taako went back to his meal.  _ Guess I better get used to carrying the notebook around. Not like I’m gonna run into anyone who speaks sign around here anyway.  _

* * *

“Taako! Taako! Guess what I found out?” Lup yelled as she ran outside. Taako looked up at her and tilted his head, trying to ask  _ ‘What?’ _ with facial expressions alone. 

“Auntie says she knows a human who knows a finger language! She said he’d teach us!”

‘How does that work?’ Taako scratched in the dirt. 

“Each hand position and the movement it makes is a word. And there are symbols for letters as well, so if you don’t know a word you can spell it out,” Lup explained, bouncing on her toes a little. “And we’re gonna learn! So even if your voice isn’t working you can still talk!”

Taako sat still for a moment, wrestling with the rising happiness inside his chest, before he leapt up and grabbed Lup in a big hug. 

“Thank you, Lulu,” he whispered, so soft it was barely audible. She squeezed him back just as tightly. 

“No problem, bro.”

* * *

Taako wished anyone knew sign language. He’d tried looking into it, a couple of times, travelling through towns, but either no one had heard of the concept, or the signs they tried to communicate to him in were completely unfamiliar to him. He wondered where he even learned his own personal language. So much of his childhood and adolescence was a mass of foggy, half remembered memories, but he remembered someone teaching him… No idea who, though. 

He’d been working with Magnus and Merle for two weeks before it happened again. In retrospect, he was lucky it hadn’t happened earlier. Gods knew they wouldn’t have taken him seriously if he’d presented himself as an adventurer, plus notebook and minus voice. 

Anyway, he’d been on the road with the two chumps he’d teamed up with for the moment. For some reason they seemed to click, working together almost seamlessly. They were heading back to Phandolin, with the spoil of their latest fetch quest in Magnus’ bag when it happened. 

“You ready to hit the sack, Taako?” Merle asked, looking over his shoulder.

“Hell yeah, my dude,” Taako tried to say. But no voice came out.  _ Shit _ he thought to himself, crushing any hint of embarrassment from showing on his face. So he shut his mouth, nodded, and gave a lazy thumbs up. Magnus shot him a confused look.

“You sure you’re okay?” he muttered, lowering his voice so Merle couldn’t hear. Taako paused for a second. It wasn’t likely to work… but it still felt like he needed to try. 

_ ‘Do you know sign?’ _ he signed, already braced for a blank stare of incomprehension. 

However, Magnus… wasn’t doing that. Instead he was frowning in concentration, like someone had asked him to remember his 7th grade math teacher. Then, he actually lifted his hands and signed back.

_ ‘A little. Haven’t practiced in a long time.’ _

Taako stared. He honestly hadn’t expected that to work. 

He signed back  _ ‘No Voice today.’ _

_ ‘No problem.’ _ Magnus signed back, before raising his voice. “Hey Merle! Taako can’t talk today.”

“Whatever.” Merle waved a lazy hand over his shoulder. As though this was normal. Taako swallowed quickly. He hadn’t cried in years, he wasn’t going to do it now because two idiots he happened to be working with spoke his language, quite literally. 

_ ‘Thank you,’ _ he signed, motions small and quick enough it could be passed off as an ordinary gesture. Magnus caught it though. 

_ ‘No problem,’ _ he repeated.  _ ‘More practice for me. _ ’

Taako tucked his hands into his pockets, and looked forwards; a clear sign the conversation was over, but he smiled to himself. 

(When they got back to the inn they were meeting their current boss at, it turned out Merle knew sign too. Taako would be more weirded out by that, if he wasn’t so relieved.)

* * *

It was their first day meeting the rest of the crew going on the bonds trip, and Taako was praying to all the gods he’d ever heard of that he wasn’t going to go mute at an inopportune moment. Captain Davenport already knew, of course, Lup had nagged him into telling, and of course he’d have Lup with him to translate if necessary, but if there was one thing Taako hated, it was looking weak, and a mute wizard was definitely not what anyone would expect IPRE to have as one of their best and brightest. 

A Mage Hand poked him in the cheek. Taako looked up at Lup. 

“Stop worrying,” she said, grabbing their bright red and brand new robes. “It’ll be fine.”

Taako opened his mouth.  _ Dammit _ . He closed it and raised his hands.  _ ‘Easy for you to say.’ _

Lup rolled her eyes at the pun and threw his robe at him.  _ ‘If you don’t trust them, trust me. Anyone makes fun of you, I’ll fireball them off the edge of the ship, okay?’ _

Taako rolled his eyes with a smile, finally heading out the door with Lup.  _ ‘No you won’t. You want this job way too much.’ _

_ ‘Maybe so, but that won’t stop me taking care of my baby brother.’ _

Taako tried to trip her up.  _ ‘I’m older!’ _

_‘You are not!’ _They bickered all the way to the IPRE headquarters.

Taako’s nerves returned when he saw the five red robed figures waiting inside, but did his best to suppress it. Fake it till you make it, as they say. 

The first person to see them arrive was Captain Davenport, closely followed by a human man. 

“Hi, I’m Magnus! What are your names?” he said far too excitedly, almost bouncing on his toes. 

“I’m Lup, and this is Taako.” Lup said. With her hands by her sides, she poked Taako and fingerspelled,  _ ‘Say hi, at least.’ _

Taako glared at her, then raised his hands and signed  _ ‘Sup,’  _ at Magnus. 

“Taako says ‘Sup’,”. Lup shared with a deadpan stare. 

“Oh, do you… not talk?” Magnus asked, looking between Taako and Lup with some confusion. 

_ ‘Only sometimes,’  _ Taako signed, with Lup translating. 

“You know,” Davenport said, making all three of them jump. Sneaky gnome. “As your teammates for the future mission, it would be very beneficial to know sign language, both to understand you, and for any times when silence would be most necessary. Do you think we could organise language lessons?”

“Absolutely,” Lup said before Taako could even finished being flabbergasted. Someone actually, willingly wanted to learn his language? His opinion of the IPRE had vastly gone up. 

* * *

Taako had gone through so many surprises in the last hour he was pretty sure his voice was gone. Phandolin had been destroyed, one of the moons was fake, there was a secret organisation on the moon, their memories had been suppressed by a giant jellyfish… Honestly. How on earth did they expect them to take this all in at once?

Taako shot a quick look at Magnus and Merle as they headed to meet this mysterious Director. They looked as overwhelmed as he did. He was pretty lucky he’d gotten stuck with two other guys who also liked to crack jokes to break the tension. He subtly tried to vocalise, and was disappointed, but not surprised, to feel his throat lock up. So he stayed silent until they came to the room where the Director was waiting for them. 

Taako listened as she introduced herself, but frowned when she mentioned destroying the gauntlet. He nudged Magnus so he was looking at him, and then signed, _ ‘I’m an idiot wizard, but how are you going to destroy it?’ _

The Director answered before Magnus could voice the question. “Don’t sell yourself short.”

Magnus laughed good naturedly. “No, it’s pretty accurate.”

Taako blinked. Ten years trying to find anyone who spoke his language and he found 3 people fairly recently? What were the odds. 

He looked at the Director.  _ ‘You know sign?’ _

_ ‘Yes. There is a lot of forgotten knowledge on this base,’  _ she signed back. 

_ ‘Can you tell us a little about your organization, before we just… hand it over? We went through a lot of shit to get it, and Taako doesn’t trust easily.’ _

She nodded, an unreadable expression on her face before she explained the mission statement of the base. Throughout the next couple of hours, watching the gauntlet be destroyed, hearing more about the Bureau, being offered a job, Taako couldn’t shake the happiness, hidden far underneath his asshole exterior. Maybe here he could actually pull his weight. Maybe here he could settle down. 

(Taako tried to sign at Avi later, but the man didn’t understand. Taako was a little confused, but shrugged it off. Forgotten knowledge base or not, some people just weren’t interested in learning languages.)

* * *

“Hey Taako,” Barry called, walking into the main room in the Starblaster. “Lup and I are heading out to find the Light. Want to come?”

Taako, lying facedown on the couch, considered it. He wasn’t feeling great today, but the Light really was their mission. He rolled over and sat up. 

_ ‘Okay,’ _ he signed. Barry grinned. 

_ ‘Great! Can you grab Lup?’ _

Taako nodded and headed to his and Lup’s room. He walked in and tapped on the doorframe to get Lup’s attention.  _ ‘Barold says we’re heading out soon to look for the light.’ _

_ ‘Thanks Koko. Be right there.’ _

Taako grabbed his bag and headed towards the deck. Barry was waiting for them, and Magnus was just sitting in the unusually peaceful sunshine. 

“You’re off then?” he asked, without opening his eyes. 

Taako rolled his eyes and cast Prestidigitation to create a gust of wind right up Magnus’ nostrils.

“Hey!” Magnus sat up and glared at Taako. Taako just gave him a sarcastic eye roll in response while Barry chuckled. 

_ ‘Later.’ _

_ ‘Yeah, bye,’  _ Magnus replied, lying back down. Lup came out onto the deck and smiled. 

“Okay, let's go.” Lup lead the way. 

Over the cycles the group had developed a very efficient grid pattern. They’d normally search individually, but considering Taako couldn’t yell if he found anything, he had a partner on days like these. Today he was working with Barry. 

_ 'So, how have you gone with my sister?'  _ Taako asked as they walked through the large, thick forest they had narrowed the Light's location to. 

Barry spluttered and flushed.  _ 'Not great, she's just so pretty and determined and composed…'  _

_ 'Composed? Lup? No way. Did I ever tell you about the first time she cast fireball?' _

_ 'No?' _ Barry's eyebrows raised curiously.  _ 'What happened?'  _

_ 'There were some asshole kids trying to make fun of m- us and she got so mad she released way more magic than she was expecting. Burnt her favourite cloak and my first hat.'  _ Taako rolled his eyes fondly. 

Barry laughed.  _ 'Okay, that does help.' _

_ 'Besides, she's into you. Don't stress it.'  _ Taako nudged him companionably. 

* * *

"Sir? Can I ask you a question?" Angus' voice drew Taako right out of the nap he was falling into. 

Taako rolled over with a groan. 

_ Sure,  _ he tried to say, but once again his voice vanished. Instead he gave an odd little hum and grabbed his notebook. Most of the Base knew he went nonverbal occasionally, he doubted Ango would make fun of him. 

"Yes, that's the thing I wanted to ask you about," Angus started, fiddling with his wand. "Could you teach me your sign language? It seems like a very useful skill to have, and it doesn't seem fair to force you to use your notebook all the time."

Taako cocked his head. That was new. Normally people didn't bother learning his signs. He tried to crush the growing affection he had for the kid down. 

_ 'Why me? Aren't there any books in the library you could read?'  _ He scribbled. Angus frowned and shook his head. 

"No sir, I looked. They've got a lot of other languages, but nothing on sign language."

Taako frowned. He distinctly remembered the Director telling him she'd learned his sign from the library. Or had she only implied it? Realising Angus was still waiting for an answer, he put that suspicion to the back of his mind. 

_ 'Okay Agnes, let's start with the alphabet,'  _ Taako wrote and watched the boy practically light up with glee. 

"Thank you Taako!"

* * *

Later, after everything, after remembering, getting Lup back, fighting the Hunger, winning, Taako took a long moment to just sit and breathe. 

He could feel the silence creeping up on him, and honestly he didn't mind. It would be a relief to not have to talk to anyone right now. 

Which was of course the exact moment he felt that strange tingling energy that meant Lup in her lich form had come up behind him. 

"Taako? You okay?" she asked, clear worry in her tone. Taako tilted is head back and gave her an exhausted smile. 

_ 'Yeah, I'm good. How's being out of the umbrella treating you?' _

_ 'Great. I can actually move more than 10 feet in a direction,'  _ she answered dryly, settling next to him. 

Taako was hit with the intense desire to hug her.  _ 'I'm glad you're back. Magnus was terrible at interpreting for me.' _

Lup snorted with surprised laughter. _ 'Yeah I bet.' _

_ 'You know the sign language on this plane is different? It was so bullshit, I didn't have anyone to sign to before I ran into Mags and Merle.' _

_ 'Huh, really? I bet Lucretia found that interesting.'  _ Lup hummed. Taako scowled. 

_ 'Whatever.'  _

After a long second, Lup turned to him and smiled radiantly.  _ 'I'm glad we're both okay.' _

Taako smiled, feeling completely happy for the first time since the Starblaster.  _ 'Me too.' _

**Author's Note:**

> This was really fun and really nerve wracking to write! Most of it is very personal, since I also go nonverbal on a semi regular basis. This is also the first fic I've written in around six years, so let me know what you think!


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